Their encounter, as recalled in an excerpt published by the New York Post, took place in 1975 after the Runaways' first headlining gig in Los Angeles. After posing for photos with the band, Plant took Ford aside and asked if she could play bass. When she wondered who she'd be playing bass for, Plant retorted, "Led Zep."

"He might have been drinking or pulling my leg," wrote Ford, "but he seemed to be dead serious in the ­moment."

Ford also discussed her brush with Zepdom during a 2012 interview with Bravewords. "I shook it off like it was a joke, but I don't think he was joking," she explained. "I said, 'Yeah sure, right,' and left it at that. I didn't even try to pursue that one. I love John Paul Jones — he's one of my favorite bass players. I just couldn't imagine me replacing him. But the fact that they thought about a female in their band I thought was pretty cool."

As previously reported, Living Like a Runaway arrives several weeks before a new Ford LP, Time Capsule, which reaches back into the vaults for previously unreleased studio jams recorded with some of hard rock's finest in the late '80s. And as Ford recently told Rolling Stone, she's already working on the next record: "We're still in the early stages. But when something hits you, you've got to grab it."